Vegas is desert, which means (as you know) heat in the summer, and cold in the winter. I don't think it snows all that much, but of course I could be wrong!

Her home sounds wonderful, too.

You also will have the extra benefit of no state income tax. That's got to be nice.......

Let's hear it for a slightly bluer Nevada!

I lived in Michigan through the 70s blizzard so a little snow is no big shock.

Back then we got 3 feet in a single storm, followed by 4 feet ON TOP of the original 3 which never melted. Then another foot after that.

It compressed between storms of course but there were times when it was coming down so hard that visibility was 100' while driving. The kind of thing where you clear a foot off the back window and then do the front only to find the back got two inches again.

Driving was a matter of kind of pointing the car toward where you remember the road was and use the yellow reflectors to keep you out of the ditches. Snow tires? Give me a break,...hardly anyone used them and chains were only a rumor.

that sounds like a lot of snow for southern Michigan.

You know how the houses are on high foundations?

The snow was up over the porch.



I had to push open the storm door just to get out.

He bought a house on the outskirts of Las Vegas about 8 years ago for about $200K. He just can't take one more summer in the blast furnace. The trouble is that he can't even get half what he paid for it now. He wants to move to Washington State where it's cool in the summer and rains a lot. By the way, felicitations on your marriage and I wish you happiness.

It is a fine example of the cluelessness of the investor class in this country.

Business publications out and out LIED in the Bush Era about false prosperity. They talked of the "Bush Boom" in the economy. They then went on to rate Las Vegas America's fastest growing city and these IDIOTS all wanted to get in on the ground floor of the building boom. They looked at each other flocking to build tract homes and each tried to outbuild the other. It was insane. There were no jobs to justify the incomes required for those homes. Keep in mind, they weren't flocking there with branch offices or anything, just building row after row of houses for yuppies that didn't exist and would never exist.

Now Vegas is surrounded by huge swathes of empty housing tracts that nobody wants because they are out in the middle of nowhere.

but there were jobs for those homes before the crash - Vegas has never been about "branch offices", it's about tourism and gaming, and yes those jobs existed before the crash. I agree that the whole investment bubble sucked, but make no mistake there were jobs to support those houses.

And no, the city is not "surrounded by huge swathes of empty housing tracts"...seriously, I live here and I'd notice something like that.

It was way back off the freeway and in a few places the road dipped down for a wash. Those got culverts later.

Mile after mile of ugly grey single story homes with illuminated numbers for the address that were empty and they were stuck in the middle of it. They only had two neighbors on the whole street.

Maybe those were sold later but it was weird to drive through that.

They were building other places expecting $250,000 to $350,000 for a two story that butted up to the neighbor with just a narrow walkway on either side. Practically a condo.

350k will get you lake front property back East.

Some of those after the crash selling for 70k to 80k. The pictures inside at realtor.com showed where prior owners vandalized them in their anger and stripped out the built in appliances. It one it looked like someone freaked out with a sledge hammer to the doors and walls.

and didn't see any of that, but I also was paranoid about buying in a flood plain so may have missed them.

I guess my opinion is skewed by the fact I grew up in a boom and bust town in Colorado, so the idea that towns just continue to grow - or stabilize - isn't my experience.

I've been there in winter and the cold rips right through your jeans like back East. You have to have layers when the wind is blowing. In the summer it smells like the concrete is cooking. I've seen a motorcycle kickstand sink into the asphalt.

varies widely across the state, even within 50 miles or so. I never seen anything like it when I lived there but then again, I spent most of my life in the Sonoran Desert. Much of the Central-Southeast section of the state is kinda like a desert (don't know if it is officially or not) which is hotter and drier year-round than the northwest portion of the state but actually has colder winters than that portion. Also weather in Eastern Washington varies wildly depending on region. In the central, where Yakima is, closer to the mountains -- they have strong winds all the time.

In the Northwest, Tacoma & Seattle have dry & warm summers, rains a lot from fall to spring but it is wimpy rainfall, not like Florida rain and very few hailstorms. The average rainfall is less than NYC, DC, etc. It also isn't that cold in the winter, snow only occurs a couple times a year but sometimes the ice can shut things down pretty badly. The cities just to the East of Seattle, however, get packed w/ rain & snow and have very cold winters. Northwest varies depending on elevation, as higher elevations are colder, get more rain & snow. However, you also have cities that are in "rain shadows" (the area near a mountain which receives dry air due to the moist air rising over the mountain) which are dry but 20 miles or so will be a town/city that gets packed with rain.

West of the Puget sound, just south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca gets pretty crazy. They actually have a rainforest, the Hoh Rainforest, just off to the side of the Olympic mountains gets the heaviest amount of rainfall in the US. The region gets heavy rain & pretty bad storms. Even in the summer it is mostly rainy and cold (for a summer). It gets a lot of snow in the winter except for the coastline like where Aberdeen is.

The Northeast where Spokane is has high elevation and is the coldest section of the state(probably with the exception of Cascade & Olympic mountains).

All that said, he'll find what he's looking for in Washington. The thing about the rain in the Western portion of the state is that sometimes it is cloudy for weeks without even a glimpse of the sun which can get pretty depressing but is the most beautiful part of any part of the world I ever been w/ I-70 west of Denver in second place.

I drove it one September when the aspen were at peak color. Amazing vistas and amazing variety of landscapes out there.

edit to add: there is a lot of Washington I haven't seen, but I did visit the Hoh rainforest and also spent hours and hours wandering the beaches on the Olympic peninsula. Gorgeous and deserted.

and fellow member of the Hitched Society... I moved here from the NC beach about 5 months ago and I don't regret it. I like warm weather. I survived the summer. Sure, it was hot, but the backyard pool made it sooooooo much better

Right now, the high is in the low 80s/high 70s. Mornings are cool and brisk. No need for AC, but no need for heat either. And few to no bugs.

It was a catered affair around a pool. He got a champagne fountain and it turned into a fly trap.

That party was great. Especially when some of the gay guys jumped into the pool naked. They dragged one of their friends back in when he started getting dressed again and he stared screaming, "No! Wait!" just before he went in. Sure enough, just what I thought. His Blackberry was in his pocket.

Welcome!

People here assume I'm hitting the strip but locals avoid it like the plague. What I see is mostly like Anaheim. Strip malls and suburbs. The only way you can tell the difference is the grocery stores have a little area in front with video poker.

Vegas is one of the only towns in America where you have to really watch out while driving due to people coming out of casinos at 9 AM that have been drinking steadily since 9 PM.

I guess it's part of being a Liberal.